Mobile technology is connected with prosperity and literacy

A recent report from TISS has shown that households with smartphones tend to do better economically.

According to the results of a recent study, households that own mobile technology have a greater economic prosperity level and are more likely to have a higher literacy level than homes that don’t have smartphones, tablets and other gadgets of that nature.

The “Mobile Multiplier Study” was released by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and Tata and Docomo.

The study showed that in Maharashtra, 98 percent of households with postgraduates own mobile technology. However, among people who are non-literate, that mobile device ownership fell dramatically to only 39.1 percent. Among homes that owned mobile gadgets such as smartphones and tablets, 67 percent had a higher economic prosperity level when compared to others. Among them, 90 percent resided in urban areas, showing a direct link between owning these devices and broader measures of social wellbeing, including economic prosperity.

Across India, 62 percent of mobile technology owning homes are considered to be economically prosperous.

In rural areas, 50 percent of people who have mobile devices are economically prosperous, according to the data used by the study, which was gleaned from the largest Census data collection in India. It involved responses from almost 100,000 people.

According to Professor Bino Paul from TISS, “Mobile telephony displays all characteristics of a genuine public good, its use is associated with economic prosperity or higher consumption, besides higher literacy, life expectancy, educational attainment and overall living standards as captured through Human Development Index, especially in an urban context.”

Paul explained that when it comes to literacy, mobile device ownership in homes in which graduates reside had a penetration of 93.2 percent. Among postgraduates, that figure rose to 98 percent. However, in illiterate households, the penetration of smartphones and other types of mobile gadgets plummeted to 39.1 percent.

Mobile technology ownership rose by 10 percent in homes that were considered to be at even the most basic levels of literacy. The report on the study suggested that as long as one person can only just read in a household, it raises the probability that there will also be a mobile device within that home by 1.5 times over illiterate households.